Systems and methods for providing a dynamic-hybrid forwarding information base (dhfib)

ABSTRACT

A routing system can provide a Dynamic-Hybrid Forwarding Information Base (DHFIB). A control component of the routing system can build a routing table that includes routing information (e.g., prefixes, addresses, etc.) for use by a first routing component. The routing table can be ordered or ranked based on traffic information from the first routing component. Then, the control component can create the DHFIB from the routing table, wherein the DHFIB is a portion of the routing table and related to the first routing component. As such, the portion of the routing table selected for the DHFIB can be the set of prefixes in the routing table that represent the most frequently routed or most important prefixes in the routing table. Finally, the control component can forward the DHFIB to the first routing component to allow the routing component to route communications.

FIELD

The present disclosure is generally directed to networking.

BACKGROUND

Communications between electronic devices (e.g., desktop computers,mobile devices, laptops, etc.) can occur through a network, for example,the Internet. Within the network, a group of interconnected routers canpass messages from the source or originating device, over one or morehops between the routers, to the destination or terminating device. Toaccomplish the routing of these messages, each router can include a listof addresses in a routing table that is used to create a ForwardingInformation Base (FIB). The routers use the FIB to determine to whichother router or device to send the communication. These routingdecisions within the router occur quickly to prevent the signal frombeing delayed. Thus, the routers use special hardware, for example,special memory, to store the FIB to allow the router to retrieve routinginformation in the FIB quickly.

Unfortunately, the routing tables tend to increase in size over time,which, in turn, causes the FIBs to increase in size. To accommodate thelarger FIBs, the special memory in the routers needs to be replaced orenhanced, which is very expensive. These expenses represent a large andongoing expenditure for companies that provide access to the network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a communication environment in accordance with examplesof the present disclosure;

FIG. 2A depicts an example of a routing system in accordance withexamples of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2B depicts another example of a routing system in accordance withexamples of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 depicts a software architecture in accordance with examples ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 4 depicts a signaling process in accordance with examples of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 5A depicts a data structure that can be sent, received, stored,retrieved, etc. in accordance with examples of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5B depicts a data structure that can be sent, received, stored,retrieved, etc. in accordance with examples of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5C depicts a data structure that can be sent, received, stored,retrieved, etc. in accordance with examples of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5D depicts a data structure that can be sent, received, stored,retrieved, etc. in accordance with examples of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 depicts a method for routing communications with a DHFIB inaccordance with examples of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 depicts a method for generating a DHFIB in accordance withexamples of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure provides a Dynamic-Hybrid FIB (DHFIB). In anexample, a control component of a routing system builds a routing tablethat includes routing information (e.g., prefixes, addresses, etc.) foruse by a first routing component. Then, the control component creates aDHFIB from the routing table, wherein the DHFIB is a portion of therouting table customized for the first routing component. Finally, thecontrol component forwards the DHFIB to the first routing component toallow the first routing component to route communications. The routingtable can be ordered or ranked based on traffic information from thefirst routing component. As such, the portion of the routing tableselected for the DHFIB can be the set of prefixes in the routing tablethat represent the most frequently routed or most important prefixes inthe routing table, either globally or specific to the first routingcomponent.

An example of a communication environment 100 for routing communicationswith a DHFIB is shown in FIG. 1. The communication environment 100 caninclude a source device 104 a and a destination device 104 b (device 104a and device 104 b, along with any similar devices, may be referred tocollectively herein as devices 104). The devices 104 can be any type ofdevice capable of communicating through the environment 100. Forexample, the devices 104 can be mobile devices, desktop computers,laptops, servers, memory or storage systems or repositories, or othertypes of devices or systems.

The devices 104 communicate through a network 108. The network 108 canrepresent any type of local, distant, wireless, or other type ofnetwork. For example, the network 108 may represent one or more of alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless LAN(WLAN), the Internet, etc. Further, the network 108 can represent acombination of two or more of the aforementioned network types.

The network 108 can be composed of one or more routing systems 112 athrough 112 n (routing systems 112 a through 112 n may be collectivelyreferred to herein as routing systems 112). There may be more or fewerrouting systems 112 than those shown in FIG. 1, as represented by theellipses 116. A routing system 112 can receive a communication that wasoriginated from the source device 104 a (and that may have beenforwarded by one or more previous routing systems 112) and is to berouted to a destination device 104 b. These communications may need tobe routed or travel through one or more the routing systems 112 beforereaching the destination device 104 b, and, as such, each routing system112 is operable to route the communications between and among the otherrouting systems 112 to reach the destination device 104 b.

An example routing system 112 may be shown as in FIG. 2A. The routingsystem 112 may be a physically separate device, such as a router 200. Incontrast, a different routing system 112 may be as shown in FIG. 2B. Inthis example, the routing system 112 may be formed from severalphysically separate devices that may not be part of a single router orsingular routing system 112. These two different routing systems 112 mayhave similar components, elements, or devices that perform similarfunctions. As such, the two configurations of the routing systems 112are explained together hereinafter.

The routing system 112 can comprise one or more hardware elements thatmay be communicatively or electrically coupled, for example, via acontrol component 204. The control component 204 can be a control plane204, as shown in FIG. 2a , a control device 204 as shown in FIG. 2B, orsome other type of control component 204. In at least someconfigurations, the control component 204 may comprise one or moreprocessors 212 and associated memory 216.

In examples, each control component 204 can include two or moreprocessors 212 that can each be considered a separate control component204 (along with associated memory 216). Regardless, the controlcomponent 204 may provide information or other data to one or morerouting components 208 a through 208 n (routing components 208 a through208 n may be referred to herein as routing components 208). Further, thecontrol component 204 may control at least some of the operations of therouting components 208.

The routing system 112, whether a router 200, as shown in FIG. 2A, orseparate devices, as shown in FIG. 2B, can include one or more routingcomponents 208 a through 208 n. The routing components 208 can belinecards, as shown in FIG. 2A, physically separate devices, as shown inFIG. 2B, or some other configuration of components. As with the controlcomponent 204, in at least some configurations, the routing component208 may comprise a processor 212 and associate memory 216. As such, eachrouting linecard or device 208 can include two or more processors 212and associated memory 216.

Each routing component 208 may control the routing or distribution ofcommunication signals entering and leaving the routing system 112. Forexample, the routing component 208 may receive a communication at afirst port, for example, at the router 200, and may route thatcommunication to a destination device 104 b or to another routing system112, through a second port. Both the control component 204 and therouting component 208 can contain one or more hardware components toeither control the routing component 208 or to route the communications.

The hardware components may include one or more of, but is not limitedto, one or more processors 212, one or more input interfaces, one ormore output interfaces, and one or more memory components 216. Examplesof the processors 212 as described herein may include, but are notlimited to, at least one of Qualcomm® Snapdragon® 800 and 801, Qualcomm®Snapdragon® 620 and 615 with 4G LTE Integration and 64-bit computing,Apple® A7 processor with 64-bit architecture, Apple® M7 motioncoprocessors, Samsung® Exynos® series, the Intel® Core® family ofprocessors, the Intel® Xeon® family of processors, the Intel® Atom®family of processors, the Intel Itanium® family of processors, Intel®Core® i5-4670K and i7-4770K 22 nm Haswell, Intel® Core® i5-3570K 22 nmIvy Bridge, the AMD® FX® family of processors, AMD® FX-4300, FX-6300,and FX-8350 32 nm Vishera, AMD® Kaveri processors, Texas Instruments®Jacinto C6000® automotive infotainment processors, Texas Instruments®OMAP® automotive-grade mobile processors, ARM® Cortex®-M processors,ARM®. Cortex-A and ARM926EJ-S® processors, other industry-equivalentprocessors, and may perform computational functions using any known orfuture-developed standard, instruction set, libraries, and/orarchitecture. The processors 212 can also include one or more of, butare not limited to, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC),field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), other central processing units, asystem-on-chip (SOC), or other types of processors.

The memory components 216 may be disk drives, optical storage devices,solid-state storage devices, such as a random access memory (“RAM”)and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can be programmable,flash-updateable and/or the like. However, in at least someconfigurations, the memory components are ternary content addressablememory/reduced latency dynamic random access memory (TCAM/RLDRAM) thatare capable of reduce latency, high-speed switching to providehigh-speed access to the FIB stored within the memory. Additionally oralternatively, each control component 204 and routing component 208 mayhave two or more processors 212, each with dedicated memory 216. Inthese configurations, each separate processor 212 with its associatedmemory 216 may be considered a separate routing component 208 althoughphysically contained on a same linecard or other physical substructurewith other processors 212.

The routing system 112 may also comprise software components, locatedwithin a working memory 216, including an operating system and/or othercode. It should be appreciated that alternate examples of a routingsystem 112 may have numerous variations from that described above. Forexample, customized hardware might also be used and/or particularcomponents might be implemented in hardware (e.g., ASIC gates), software(including portable software, such as applets), or both. Further,connection to other computing devices 220, such as network input/outputdevices, may also be employed to conduct at least one function of thesoftware as described hereinafter.

An example of a software architecture 300 of a control component 204 maybe as shown in FIG. 3. While the following is described as software, inat least some configurations, the software 300 may be embodied as gatesor circuits in an ASIC, FPGA, or other hardware device. The softwarearchitecture 300 can include one or more applications, stored in workingmemory 216, and executed by the processor 212, and one or more datastructures stored and accessed from memory 216. The applications caninclude one or more of, but are not limited to, a traffic informationprocessing component 304, a routing table arranger 308, a prefixselector 312, and a FIB forwarding component 316. The data structuresstored in memory 216 can include one or more of, but are not limited to,an arranged routing table 320 and one or more DHFIBs 324 a-324 n. Theremay be a DHFIB 324 for each routing component 208 that can be storedwithin memory 216 or may be created at the control component 204 andforwarded to the routing component 208 before that the DHFIB 324 iserased from memory 216. There may be more or fewer DHFIBs 324 in memory216 than that shown in FIG. 3, as represented by the ellipses 328.

The traffic information processing component 304 can receive trafficinformation from one or more of the routing components 208. The trafficinformation can be parsed and analyzed by the traffic informationprocessing component 304. From the traffic information processing,information about the most-important or most-routed prefixes may be sentto the routing table arranger 308. The traffic information can beinformation from one or more of any currently available or futuredeveloped traffic information processing software, hardware, or system.

The routing table arranger 308 can generate or edit an arranged routingtable 320 associated with one or more of the routing components 208.Thus, the routing table arranger 308 may arrange prefixes (a prefix canmean any route stored in the routing table, FIB, DHFIB, etc.) oraddresses within the arranged routing table 320. In this way, thearranged routing table 320 may have a listing of prefixes from themost-routed to least-routed routes. Once arranged, the routing tablearranger 308 can send the information about the arranged routing table320 to the prefix selector 312.

The prefix selector 312 can determine which prefixes from the arrangedrouting table 320 are selected to create the dynamic-hybrid forwardinginformation base (DHFIB) 324. in examples, the arranged routing table320 may be specific to a particular routing component 208. Thus, theprefix selector 312 can generate and provide one DHFIB 324 from thearranged prefix information and include only a portion of the prefixesfrom the arranged routing table 320. The number of prefixes includedwithin the DHFIB 324 may be determined as a portion or a percentage ofthe prefixes within the arranged routing table 320, can be based off abenchmark (for example, if the prefix in the arranged routing table 320has been routed more than three times during a predetermined period oftime), can be determined based on the capacity of the particular routingcomponent 208, or by some other algorithm or calculation. The prefixselector 312 may then extract the prefixes from the arranged routingtable 320 and can create the DHFIB 324. This DHFIB 324 may then be sentto the FIB forwarding component 316.

The FIB forwarding component 316 may send the DHFIB 324 to theparticular routing component 208 for which the DHFIB 324 was prepared.In other examples, the DHFIB 324 is common to multiple (or all) routingcomponents of a routing system 112. Thus, the FIB forwarding component316 can address a communication, containing the DHFIB 324, andcommunicate that DHFIB 324 through an output interface to a processor212 to one or more routing component(s) 208. Any address or othercommunication envelope required to send the DHFIB 324 may be generatedby the FIB forwarding component 316 to send the DHFIB 324 through theoutput interface.

The arranged routing table 320 is a data structure that includes one ormore prefixes that may be arranged in an order from most-routed ormost-important to least-routed or least-important. An example of thearranged routing table 320 may be as shown in FIG. 5B. The arrangedrouting table 320 may be particular to or associated with one routingcomponent 208 and thus there may be more arranged routing tables 320than those shown in FIG. 3, as represented by ellipses 332.

The DHFIB 324 may include a portion of the arranged prefixes from thearranged routing table 320. The DHFIB 324 may also include otherinformation that is needed by the routing component 208 to routedifferent communications through the routing system 112. An example ofthe DHFIB 324 may be as shown in FIGS. 5C and 5D.

An example of the routing or communications between the controlcomponent 204 and routing component 208 may be as shown in FIG. 4. Thiscommunication environment 400 may include communications to and from thecontrol component 204 and routing component 208 over various differentinterfaces or using various communication protocols.

A first communication 404 may represent the control component 204sending an initial FIB to the routing component 208. The initial FIB mayinclude no prefixes within the FIB, may include a randomly chosen set ofprefixes from the routing table, may contain some prefixes determined byhistorical or other trends from different routing components 208, maycontain a copy of an FIB from a different routing component 208, or maycontain other configurations or arrangements of the prefixes. Theinitial FIB, sent in communication 404, may not be a DHFIB as thetraffic information may not have been received from that routingcomponent 208 before the time of sending the initial FIB in signal 404;however, the initial FIB may be a snapshot of a DHFIB from a differentrouting component 208 already operating in the communication environment100.

Sometime thereinafter, the routing component 208 may communicate trafficinformation, in communication 408. The traffic information communicatedmay be similar or the same as shown in data structure 502, as describedin conjunction with FIG. 5A. This traffic information may be providedbased on communications received and routed by the routing component208, using the initial FIB.

The traffic information may be used by the control component 204 togenerate the DHFIB 324, in process 420. Process 420 may be similar to orthe same as process 700 as described in conjunction with FIG. 7. Thiscreated DHFIB may then be forwarded from the control component 204 tothe routing component 208, in communication 412. With this new DHFIB324, the routing component 208 can then route messages, in process 416.Process 416 may be the same or similar to method 600 described inconjunction with FIG. 6. These newly routed messages, routed in process416, may then generate new traffic information. This new trafficinformation may then be sent again in communication 408. As such, theprovision of traffic information from routing component 208 to thecontrol component 204 and then the reception of the DHFIB 324 based offthat information may be repeated, cyclical, and periodic. For example,the communications 408 and 412 and the processes 416 and 420 involved inreceiving the DHFIB 324 may occur every second, every minute, everyhour, every day, etc.

At some time after an initial receipt of the DHFIB 324, the routingcomponent 208 can receive a communication 424. This communication 424can originate from an external device, e.g., a routing system 112 or asource device 104 a, and may be processed by the routing component 208.However, the communication 424 may include a prefix not contained withinthe DHFIB 324. In these situations, the routing component 208 can routeor pass the communication to the control component 204 in communication428. Thus, if a communication is received by the routing component 208that is not in DHFIB 324, that communication may still be routed basedon the control component 204 routing the communication using the routingtable 320 rather than the DHFIB 324. If the communication 424 doesinclude the prefix from the communication in the DHFIB 324, the routingcomponent 208 routes the communication to the next device according tothe DHFIB 324.

The data structures 500 that may be stored in memory 216 may be as shownin FIGS. 5A through 5D. A first data structure 502 may represent trafficinformation that may be sent from the routing component 208 to thecontrol component 204. The data structure 502 can have one or more of,but is not limited to, the following fields: a source internet protocol(IP) address 504, a destination IP address 506, a next hop IP address508, a protocol 509, a number of packets 510, a start time of the flowof data 512, an end time of the flow data 514, a source port 516, and adestination port 518. There may be more or fewer fields within datastructure 502, as represented by ellipses 520. Each routing component208 can have a different set of traffic information and thus there maybe more or fewer data structures 502 sent to the control component 204than shown in FIG. 5A, as represented by ellipses 522. Further, the datastructure 502 may be sent periodically by the routing component(s) 208,for example, the data structure 502 may be sent every second, everyminute, every hour, etc. The data structures 500 can characterize atraffic “flow,” which can have predetermined types and/or apredetermined number of tuples, for example, five (5) tuples. Each ofthe various fields are explained further hereinafter.

The source IP address 504 may comprise the IP address of the sourcedevice 104 a. The destination IP address 506, similarly, may comprisethe IP address of the destination device 104 b. Each of these IPaddresses 504, 506 can represent at least a portion of the prefixes thatare used by the routing system 112 and the network 108 to route thesignals.

Data structure 502 can also include the next hop IP address 508, whichmay comprise the IP address of the next routing system 112 in thenetwork path to the destination device 104 b that is used to route thecommunication through the network 108. The protocol 509 can be any typeof protocol used for the communication, for example, including, but notlimited to, the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), the User DatagramProtocol (UDP), the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), etc. Thepackets field 510 can represent the number of packets sent in thecommunication(s) to the destination device 104 b. The start time of theflow 512 can represent a time of when the first packet was sent to thedestination device 104 b by this routing system 112. Similarly, the endtime of the flow 514 can represent the time at which the last packet wassent to the destination device 104 b by this routing system 112.

The source port 516 can represent the port interface on the routingsystem 112 into which the communication was received. The destinationport 518 may comprise the output interface port used to route the signalfrom the routing component 208 either to the destination device 104 b orto the next hop routing system 112 n.

An example of the arranged routing table 320 may be as shown in FIG. 5B.The arranged routing table 320 may be unique to each routing component208 and unique to the latest traffic information, as explained inconjunction with FIG. 3. The arranged routing table 320 can include oneor more of, but is not limited to, a row number field 526, a destinationIP address 528, a mask 530, cost (or metric) 532, a next hop router 534,a number of requests 536, a number of packets 538, and a rank 540. Theremay be more or fewer fields within the arranged routing table 320, asrepresented by ellipses 542. Each of the different communications to adestination 104 b may have its own row 526. Thus, there may be more orfewer rows than those shown in FIG. 5B, as represented by ellipses 544.

Each one of these of the rows 526 may represent a set of communicationsfrom a source device 104 a or to a destination device 104 b. Thus, theinformation within the row 526 may represent a determination of theimportance or the frequency of this routing required by the routingcomponent 208. The row field 526 may comprise a number or include anidentifier for the information within that row.

The destination IP address 528 may be the same or similar to thedestination IP address 506 in the traffic information data structure502. The destination IP address 528 may comprise an IP address for thedestination device 104 b. This destination IP address 528 indicates thedestination of the communication or communications and may be the prefixthat is used to arrange the routing table.

The mask 530 or subnet mask can be used to determine what subnet an IPaddress belongs to for the communication of one or more signals to thedestination IP address 528. The cost (or metric) 532 may represent atleast a portion of the number of hops used to send the signal from thesource device 104 a to the destination device 104 b. The next hop router534 may indicate the next hop IP address 508 in the traffic informationto the next routing system 112 used to route the signal.

The number of requests field 536 may comprise a number of times thatthis routing was requested by one or more source devices 104 a to thedestination device 104 b. The number of requests field 536 can indicatea frequency or importance of this communication signal or routing.

A number of packets 538 can represent a total number of packets sent inall communications to the destination IP address 528, can represent anumber of packets sent in one particular communication, or can indicatean average number of packets 538 used in the various communications tothe destination IP address 528. The number of packets can determine theload for the different signals sent to the destination IP address 528and thus the amount of load on the routing component 208 to route thesecommunications to the destination device 104 b.

A rank 540 indicates how the different communication sources orinformation are rated or ranked in the arranged routing table 320. Thus,the rank 540 indicates the actual arrangement of the arranged routingtable 320. The rank 540 can be determined by a number of requests 536,number of packets 538, some combination of that information, or by otherinformation provided in each row 526. The rank 540 is used to arrangethe arranged routing table 320 from most-important or most-frequentcommunications to the least-important or least-frequent communications.

An example of a DHFIB 324, as described in conjunction with FIG. 3, maybe as shown in FIG. 5C. The DHFIB 324 may be created from informationincluding that stored in the arranged routing table 320 described inconjunction FIG. 5B. Each DHFIB 324 can include one or more of, but isnot limited to, default routes 548, static routes 550, interior gatewayprotocol (IGP) prefixes 552, internal border gateway protocol (BGP)prefixes 554, BGP prefixes from a prefix list 556, BGP prefixes that arecommunity defined 558, and dynamic prefixes 560. There may be more orfewer fields within the DHFIB 324, as represented by ellipses 562. Anexample of information within the dynamic prefixes 560 may be as shownin data structure 563 of FIG. 5D. Information within dynamic prefixes560 may include various different destination IP addresses or prefixes,and thus, there may be more or fewer data structures 563 than that shownin FIG. 5D, as represented by ellipses 576. Data structure 563 caninclude one or more fields including, but not limited to, a link label564, a destination IP address 566, an input interface 568, a next hop IPaddress 569, an output interface 570, link information 572, etc. Theremay be more or fewer fields in data structure 563, as represented byellipses 574. The information in FIGS. 5C and 5D will be explainedtogether.

The DHFIB 324 can have a set of predetermined information. The DHFIB 324thus can be provided with dynamic prefixes up to a predeterminedcapacity (which is determined as the totally capacity of the DHFIB minusthe space needed for the predetermined information) according to thepriority of the dynamic prefix information in the arranged routing table320. There can be a number of categories of predetermined information.For example, the fields 548, 550, 552, 554, 556, and 558 may be listedfrom highest priority to lowest priority. Thus, the capacity providedfor the dynamic prefixes 560 may be governed by the amount ofinformation in fields 548 through 558. A route map or route policy candefine the priorities for the different fields 548 through 560 and theorder of their priority. Further, the route policy or route map candefine the amount of space provided in the DHFIB 324 for each of thefields 548 through 560.

A first field provides default routes 548, which can include one or moreprefixes or routes that may be required for the operation of the routingcomponent 208. Similarly, the static routes 550 can include prefixes forroutes that are constant or persistent for the routing component 208.The IGP prefixes 552 can store any routes required for the internalgateway protocol messaging used to control the routing components 208.Similarly, the internal BGP routes or prefixes 554 can include routesrequired for BGP protocol messaging. The BGP prefixes 556 may be from aprefix list stored in the routing table at the control component 204.Other BGP prefixes 558 may be community defined. Community defined BGPprefixes 558 may comprise those that define prefixes used within a setor group of routing systems 112, for example, those routing systems 112associated with a service provider. The BGP prefixes 556, 558 may beused to exchange routing reachability information amongst the differentrouting systems 112 in the network 108. These various prefixes 548through 558 may be used for controlling the routing component 208 orconducting other administrative functions or communications.

Dynamic prefixes 560 include that information selected from the arrangedrouting table 320. Thus, the number and identity of dynamic prefixes 560are variable and can change over time or amongst different routingcomponents 208. The information within the dynamic prefixes can includethat as shown in data structure 563.

The link label 564 can include some type of identifier for the linkwithin or associated with the other information fields 566-572. The linklabel 564 can include a numeric, an alphanumeric, a globally uniqueidentifier (GUID), or some other type of identifier. Link label 564 canbe unique amongst all different links between the routing components 208to the destination device 104 b.

The destination IP address 566 can be the same or similar to thedestination IP addresses stored in fields 528 or 506. The destination IPaddress 566 may comprise the prefix for the destination device 104 b.The input interface 568 can describe the input requirements for thesource device 104 a or routing system 112 a that is sending theinformation. This input interface 568 can include a port ID or otherinformation. The next hop IP address 569 may comprise the IP address ofthe next hop routing system 112 n in the network path to the destinationdevice 104 b that is used to route the communication through the network108. The output interface 570 may comprise information about the outputinterface to the next hop routing system 112 n or the destination device104 b. The output interface 570 can also list the port ID or otherinformation.

Link information 572 can indicate other information about the link, forexample, the communication protocol, any type of security, or otherinformation. Link information 572 allows the routing component 208 toprovide the type of service required by either the source device 104 a,the destination device 104 b, or another routing system 112 n.

FIG. 6 shows a method 600 for routing communications with a DHFIB at arouting component, such as routing component 208, in accordance withexamples of the present disclosure. A general order for the operationsof the method 600 is shown in FIG. 6. Generally, the method 600 startswith a start operation 604 and ends with an end operation 644. Themethod 600 can include more or fewer operations or can arrange the orderof the operations differently than those shown in FIG. 6. The method 600can be executed as a set of computer-executable instructions executed bya processor, such as 212 of routing component 208, and encoded or storedon a non-transitory computer readable medium. Further, the method 600can be performed by gates or circuits associated with a processor, anASIC, a FPGA, a SOC, or other hardware device. Hereinafter, the method600 shall be explained with reference to the systems, components,devices, modules, software, signals, data structures, interfaces,methods, etc. described in conjunction with FIGS. 1-5D and 7; however,it will be understood by those of skill in the art that some or all ofthe operations of method 600 can be performed by or using differentelements from those described below.

The routing component 208 can receive an initial FIB information, inoperation 608. The routing component 208 can be a linecard or otherdevice, which can receive the initial FIB, in signal 404, communicatedfrom the control component 204 to the routing component 208. Thisinitial FIB may be received by the processor 212 and stored in memory216 of the routing component 208. This FIB, as explained previously, maycontain some portion of the information as provided in data structure324. However, the dynamic prefixes 560 may not be complete or may not bebased on traffic information, as the routing component 208 has yet toroute any communication and could not, as of yet, provide trafficinformation. Thus, the dynamic prefixes 560 may be empty, filled with arandom set of prefixes, filled with a set of prefixes defined by acommunity or other routing systems 112 that may be associated with therouting component 208, or may be filled with other information.

The routing component 208 may then route one or more communicationsbased on the initial FIB, in operation 612. For example, the routingcomponent 208 may receive a communication 424. If the routing componentcannot find the prefix associated with the communication 424 within theinitial FIB, the routing component 208 can direct that communication tothe control component 204, as signal 428, for the control component 204to route that communication. The receiving of communications and usingthe initial FIB may occur for some period of time before sufficienttraffic information may be generated or available.

The routing component 208 can then generate traffic information, inoperation 616. Over the course of several communications over a periodof time, the routing component 208 can generate, update, and store thedata structure 502 with various different entries and informationassociated with the types of communications being processed by thatrouting component 208. This traffic information 502 may be stored, e.g.,in the memory 216 of the routing component and then can be sent to thecontrol component 204.

The routing component 208 can forward the traffic information to thecontrol component 204, in operation 620. For example, the processor 212,of the routing component 208, can send the signal 408, from the routingcomponent 208 to the control component 204, which contains trafficinformation. The traffic information may be the same or similar to thatdescribed in data structure 502 of FIG. 5A. The traffic informationprocessing component 304, of the processor 212, of the control component204, can receive the traffic information. Traffic information in datastructure 502 may then be used to create a DHFIB 324. The DHFIB 324 maythen be sent back to the routing component 208 and can be received bythe processor 212, of the routing component 208, in operation 624.

With the receipt of the DHFIB, the routing component 208 can receive acommunication, for example communication 424, in operation 628. Thecommunication 424 may have a prefix associated therewith and may berouted based on the DHFIB 324.

The routing component 208 can determine whether the prefix, in thecommunication, is in the DHFIB 324, in operation 632. The processor 212,of the routing component 208, can search for the prefix of thecommunication in the DHFIB 324. If the prefix is found in the DHFIB 324,the method 600 can proceed YES to operation 640. However, if the prefixis not found in the DHFIB 324, the method 600 may proceed NO tooperation 636. In operation 636, the processor 212, of the routingcomponent 208, may reroute the communication input 428 to the controlcomponent 204 to route the communication that is not in the DHFIB 324.The method 600 may then proceed back to generate traffic information, inoperation 616, including the prefix from the communication 424 that wasnot in the DHFIB 324. This new traffic information may then be processedagain through the routing component 208 and the control component 204 toform a new or altered DHFIB 324.

In operation 640, the routing component 208 may route the communication424 through to another routing system 112 or to the destination device104 b per the DHFIB 324. The method 600 may end at that operation 644without further communications. However, the information about therouted message 424 can be provided back to the control component 204 asmore traffic information, in operation 616, and at least part of themethod 600 can recur. In this way, the DHFIB may be updated on aperiodic or continuous basis to adapt appropriately to changing trafficbeing routed by the routing component 208.

FIG. 7 shows a method 700 for generating a DHFIB at a control component204, in accordance with examples of the present disclosure. A generalorder for the operations of the method 700 is shown in FIG. 7.Generally, the method 700 starts with a start operation 704 and endswith an end operation 736. The method 700 can include more or feweroperations or can arrange the order of the operations differently thanthose shown in FIG. 7. The method 700 can be executed as a set ofcomputer-executable instructions executed by a routing system 112 andencoded or stored on a computer readable medium. Further, the method 700can be performed by gates or circuits associated with a processor, anASIC, a FPGA, a SOC, or other hardware device. Hereinafter, the method700 shall be explained with reference to the systems, components,devices, modules, software, signals, data structures, interfaces,methods, etc. described in conjunction with FIGS. 1-6; however, it willbe understood by those of skill in the art that some or all of theoperations of method 700 can be performed by or using different elementsfrom those described below.

In examples, the initial FIB may be stored in memory 216 of the controlcomponent 204, and the FIB forwarding component 316 may send the initialFIB, in operation 708. The FIB forwarding component 316 can create aninitial FIB from the routing table information in a routing table andsend that information to one or more routing components 208. Aspreviously described, the initial FIB may contain no prefixes, maycontain a randomly generated number prefixes, can have a select portionof the routing table prefixes, may base the initial prefixes off of datafrom the community of routing components 208 or other routing systems112, or may base the initial prefixes in the initial FIB based on otherdeterminations or predetermined settings from a user.

Sometime thereinafter, the traffic information processing component 304of the control component 204 can receive traffic information from therouting components 208, in operation 712. One or more data structures502 may be received by the traffic information processing component 304.The information in data structure 502 may then be processed by thetraffic information processing component 304 to determine and order theimportance of the traffic being routed by the routing component 208.This importance information may then be provided to the routing tablearranger 308.

The routing table arranger 308 can then order prefixes in the arrangedrouting table 320, according to the received traffic information, foreach of the routing components 208, in operation 716. The routing tablearranger 308 can create the arranged routing table 320 and may includerank information 540 in the arranged routing table 320. The arrangedrouting table 320 can have a rank 540, which orders the differentprefixes or communications within the arranged routing table 320. Therank 540 can be based on the number of requests 536, the number ofpackets 538, other information, or a combination of any of the trafficinformation data structure 502. The ordering of the arranged routingtable 320 may be for a single routing component 208.

The prefix selector 312 may then determine a portion of the arrangedrouting table 320 to use for the DHFIB 324 for that particular routingcomponent 208, in operation 720. The prefix selector 312 can determine anumber of prefixes to select and place into the dynamic prefixes 560 ofthe DHFIB 324, as shown in data structure 324. The number prefixesselected may be based the number prefixes reserved or available based ona total size of the DHFIB 324 minus any other prefixes in fields 548through 558. The selection may be based on the top number or apredetermined number of prefixes in the arranged routing table 320 thatare based on rank. These prefixes may be extracted from the tableinformation 320 and put into fields 564 through 572. This newly createdDHFIB 324 may then be sent or saved in memory 216 as, for example, DHFIB324 a.

The FIB forwarding component 316 may read or retrieve the DHFIB 324 frommemory 216. The FIB forwarding component 316 may then send the DHFIB 324to the particular routing component 208 associated with that DHFIB 324,in operation 724. In examples, a different DHFIB 324 is sent to eachrouting component 208 that is specific to that routing component 208. Inother examples, one or more clustered or related routing components 208may be sent the same DHFIB 324 based on aggregated traffic informationreceived from those routing components 208. Sometime thereinafter, oneor more communications, not having a prefix within the DHFIB 324, may bereceived at the routing component 208. These communications may beforwarded from the routing component 208 to the control component 204.The control component 204 can receive the communication from the routingcomponent 208, in operation 728. This communication may have a prefixthat is retrieved from the communication and compared to the routingtable 320. The communication information from the routing table 320 maythen be used to route that communication, in operation 732. Thus, thecontrol component 204 can route a signal 424, which was forwarded fromthe routing component 208, as signal 428, to either a destination device104 b or to another routing system 112 n. The method may then proceedback to operation 712 where new traffic information is received as a newdata structure 502. A new DHFIB 324 may then be created and forwarded tothe routing component 208. The new DHFIB 324 can include informationabout the communication (which did not have a prefix listed within thelast DHFIB 324) routed by the control component 204 rather than therouting component 208.

The foregoing discussion of the disclosure has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description. The foregoing is not intendedto limit the disclosure to the form or forms disclosed herein. In theforegoing Detailed Description for example, various features of thedisclosure are grouped together in one or more embodiments,configurations, or aspects for the purpose of streamlining thedisclosure. The features of the embodiments, configurations, or aspectsof the disclosure may be combined in alternate embodiments,configurations, or aspects other than those discussed above. This methodof disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention thatthe claimed disclosure requires more features than are expressly recitedin each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventiveaspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosedembodiment, configuration, or aspect. Thus, the following claims arehereby incorporated into this Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separate preferred embodiment of thedisclosure.

Moreover, though the description of the disclosure has includeddescription of one or more embodiments, configurations, or aspects andcertain variations and modifications, other variations, combinations,and modifications are within the scope of the disclosure, e.g., as maybe within the skill and knowledge of those in the art, afterunderstanding the present disclosure. It is intended to obtain rights,which include alternative embodiments, configurations, or aspects to theextent permitted, including alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalentstructures, functions, ranges, or operations to those claimed, whetheror not such alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures,functions, ranges, or operations are disclosed herein, and withoutintending to publicly dedicate any patentable subject matter.

The phrases “at least one,” “one or more,” “or,” and “and/or” areopen-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive inoperation. For example, each of the expressions “at least one of A, Band C,” “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” “oneor more of A, B, or C,” “A, B, and/or C,” and “A, B, or C” means Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, or A, B and C together.

The term “a” or “an” entity refers to one or more of that entity. Assuch, the terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more,” and “at least one” can beused interchangeably herein. It is also to be noted that the terms“comprising,” “including,” and “having” can be used interchangeably.

The term “automatic” and variations thereof, as used herein, refers toany process or operation, which is typically continuous orsemi-continuous, done without material human input when the process oroperation is performed. However, a process or operation can beautomatic, even though performance of the process or operation usesmaterial or immaterial human input, if the input is received beforeperformance of the process or operation. Human input is deemed to bematerial if such input influences how the process or operation will beperformed. Human input that consents to the performance of the processor operation is not deemed to be “material.”

Aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of an embodimentthat is entirely hardware, an embodiment that is entirely software(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module,” or “system.”Any combination of one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedium(s) may be utilized. The computer-readable medium may be acomputer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium.

A computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limitedto, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, orsemiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combinationof the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of thecomputer-readable storage medium would include the following: anelectrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computerdiskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document,a computer-readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that cancontain or store a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

A computer-readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer-readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer-readable signal medium may be any computer-readable medium thatis not a computer-readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program codeembodied on a computer-readable medium may be transmitted using anyappropriate medium, including, but not limited to, wireless, wireline,optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of theforegoing.

The terms “determine,” “calculate,” “compute,” and variations thereof,as used herein, are used interchangeably and include any type ofmethodology, process, mathematical operation or technique.

The term “means” as used herein shall be given its broadest possibleinterpretation in accordance with 35 U.S.C., Section 112(f) and/orSection 112, Paragraph 6. Accordingly, a claim incorporating the term“means” shall cover all structures, materials, or acts set forth herein,and all of the equivalents thereof. Further, the structures, materialsor acts and the equivalents thereof shall include all those described inthe summary, brief description of the drawings, detailed description,abstract, and claims themselves.

An aspect of the present disclosure can comprise a method comprisingbuilding a routing table at a control plane that includes routinginformation for a first routing component; creating a ForwardingInformation Base (FIB) from the routing table, wherein the FIB is aportion of the routing table and related to the first routing component;and forwarding the FIB to the first routing component.

Any of the one or more above aspects, further comprising: receivingtraffic information from the routing component; determining the portionof the routing table to place in the FIB based on the trafficinformation.

Any of the one or more above aspects, wherein the traffic informationdescribes prefixes in the routing table most routed by the routingcomponent.

Any of the one or more above aspects, wherein the traffic information isinformation from one or more of NetFlow, sFlow, cflowd, InternetProtocol Flow Information Export (IPFIX), or Cisco Express Forwarding(CEF).

Any of the one or more above aspects, wherein the portion of the routingtable forming the FIB is based on a benchmark.

Any of the one or more above aspects, wherein the benchmark is apercentage of most routed prefixes.

Any of the one or more above aspects, further comprising: receivingsecond traffic information from a second routing component; determininga second portion of the routing table to place in a second FIB based onthe second traffic information; creating the second ForwardingInformation Base (FIB) from the routing table, wherein the second FIB isthe second portion of the routing table and related to the secondrouting component; and forwarding the second FIB to the second routingcomponent.

Any of the one or more above aspects, wherein the first FIB and thesecond FIB are different.

Any of the one or more above aspects, further comprising: receivingsecond traffic information from the routing component at a second time;recreating a second FIB from the routing table based on the secondtraffic information, wherein the second FIB is a second portion of therouting table and related to the first routing component; and forwardingthe second FIB to the first routing component to replace the FIB.

Any of the one or more above aspects, wherein the FIB includes theportion based on the traffic information and a default route, a staticroute an interior gateway protocol (IGP) prefix, an internal bordergateway protocol (BGP) prefix, a BGP prefix defined by a prefix-list, ora BGP prefix defined by a community.

Another aspect of the present disclosure can comprise a routingcomponent comprising: a memory to store instructions; a processor incommunication with the memory, wherein the instructions cause theprocessor to execute a method, the method comprising: determiningtraffic information for the routing component; sending the trafficinformation to a control device; receiving a Forwarding Information Base(FIB) from the control device, wherein the FIB is a portion of a routingtable and related to the routing component, and wherein the FIB is basedon the traffic information; and routing a first communication based onthe FIB.

Any of the one or more above aspects, the method further comprising:sending second traffic information to the control device at a secondtime; receiving a second FIB from the control device, wherein the secondFIB is based on the second traffic information, wherein the second FIBis a second portion of the routing table, wherein the second FIB and theFIB are different; and routing a second communicating based on thesecond FIB.

Any of the one or more above aspects, wherein the traffic information isinformation from one or more of NetFlow, sFlow, cflowd, InternetProtocol Flow Information Export (IPFIX), or Cisco Express Forwarding(CEF).

Any of the one or more above aspects, wherein the FIB includes theportion based on the traffic information and a default route, a staticroute an interior gateway protocol (IGP) prefix, an internal bordergateway protocol (BGP) prefix, a BGP prefix defined by a prefix-list, ora BGP prefix defined by a community.

Any of the one or more above aspects, before sending the trafficinformation, the method further comprising one of: receiving an emptyFIB; receiving an FIB with random prefixes; or receiving an FIB with IGPprefixes, static prefixes, and prefixes determined by a BGP community.

Another aspect of the present disclosure can comprise a routing systemcomprising: a control component, wherein the control component builds arouting table that includes routing information for a first routingcomponent; receives traffic information from the first routingcomponent; creates a Forwarding Information Base (FIB) from the firstrouting table, wherein the FIB is a portion of the routing table, basedon the traffic information, and related to the first routing component;and forwards the FIB to the first routing component; the first routingcomponent in communication with the control component, wherein the firstrouting component: determines the traffic information for the firstrouting component; sends the traffic information to the controlcomponent; receives the FIB from the control component; and routes afirst communicating based on the FIB.

Any of the one or more above aspects, further comprising: a secondrouting component, wherein the second routing component: determinessecond traffic information for the second routing component; sends thesecond traffic information to the control component; receives a secondFIB from the control component; and routes a second communication basedon the second FIB.

Any of the one or more above aspects, wherein the control componentfurther: receives the second traffic information from the second routingcomponent; determines a second portion of the routing table to place inthe second FIB based on the second traffic information; creates thesecond FIB from the routing table, wherein the second FIB is the secondportion of the routing table and related to the second routingcomponent; and forwards the second FIB to the second routing component.

Any of the one or more above aspects, wherein the first routingcomponent further: receives a third communication with a prefix notcontained in the first FIB; routes the third communication to thecontrol component; and wherein the control component routes the thirdcommunication based on information in the routing table.

Any of the one or more above aspects, wherein the routing component isone or more of a linecard, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit(ASIC) on a linecard, a processor on the linecard, memory on thelinecard, or physically separate linecard device.

A means of or for any of the one or more above aspects.

Any of the one or more above aspects in combination with any of theother one or more above aspects.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: determining, by a routingcomponent, a traffic information for the routing component; sending, bythe routing component, the traffic information to a control component;receiving, by the routing component, a Forwarding Information Base (FIB)from the control component, wherein the FIB is a portion of a routingtable and related to the routing component, and wherein the FIB is basedon the traffic information; routing, by the routing component, a firstcommunication based on the FIB; sending, by the routing component, asecond traffic information to the control component at a second time;receiving, by the routing component, a second FIB from the controlcomponent, wherein the second FIB is based on the second trafficinformation, wherein the second FIB is a second portion of the routingtable, wherein the second FIB and the FIB are different; and routing, bythe routing component, a second communication based on the second FIB.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the traffic information describesprefixes in the routing table most routed by the routing component. 3.The method of claim 2, wherein the traffic information is informationfrom one or more of NetFlow, sFlow, cflowd, Internet Protocol FlowInformation Export (IPFIX), or Cisco Express Forwarding (CEF).
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the traffic information is information fromone or more of NetFlow, sFlow, cflowd, Internet Protocol FlowInformation Export (IPFIX), or Cisco Express Forwarding (CEF).
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the portion of the routing table forming theFIB is based on a benchmark.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein thebenchmark is a percentage of most routed prefixes.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: sending, by the routing component, a thirdtraffic information to the control component at a third time; receiving,by the routing component, a third FIB from the control component,wherein the third FIB is based on the third traffic information, whereinthe third FIB is a third portion of the routing table, wherein the thirdFIB, the second FIB, and the FIB are different; and routing, by therouting component, a third communication based on the third FIB.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the FIB includes the portion based on thetraffic information and a default route, a static route an interiorgateway protocol (IGP) prefix, an internal border gateway protocol (BGP)prefix, a BGP prefix defined by a prefix-list, or a BGP prefix definedby a community.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein, before sending thetraffic information, the method further comprises at least one of:receiving, by the routing component, an empty FIB; receiving, by therouting component, a FIB with random prefixes; or receiving, by therouting component, a FIB with IGP prefixes, static prefixes, andprefixes determined by a BGP community.